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What to do in Belgrade, Serbia

10:50:00 AM

I have a lotof visitors from all over the world. In my travelling tips i mentioned how great it is to meet a local that will
show you around, and then i realized that i am the local in my hometown and i can show you what things you shouldn’t miss here, in Belgrade.
It’s
the city in south-east Europe, capital of ex-Yugoslavia. According to
western media, we’re the most horrible people ever. But that’s not true
at all! Belgrade is a safe and interesting city and it’s a great travel
destination. Our people and generous, warm and friendly. If you’re
looking for place to visit that’s raw and has a soul, that’s not
occupied by tourists and has a lot of cool things to do and visit - it’s
a place for you. Here are some must-do things if you come to Belgrade:

1. Party. Lonely
planet named us #1 party city in the world. And that’s not an accident -
nightlife here is amazing. If you come here in summer, make sure to
visit splavs, as we call it, or basically floating clubs. But if
you come in winter, don’t worry, all splavs have their winter version,
but they are situated mostly in city center and not on riverside. Also
make sure to visit Skadarlija, old part of the city, where you can go to kafanas
(Irish people have pubs and we have kafanas - something like tavernas).
Live music, lots of drinks and old, emotional songs - not an everyday
experience.

2. Eat. Who doesn’t like good food? But one
warning: leave your diet at home. Serbian cuisine has been influenced by
Balkan, Turkish, Mediterranean and Hungarian and Austrian cuisine (part
of the aftermath of our everything-but-boring history). If i started
writing about it i would need a separate blog just for it, so i’ll stop
right here and let you discover it in all of its glory.
Warning: if you’re vegetarian/vegan Serbian dishes may
not be your cup of tea. But that doesn’t mean you have to be hungry -
you can visit one of the restaurants with great and artistic interior
and atmosphere and international food, for example the ones in Beton hala (river view included).

3. Take a walk.
After lunch you gotta take a walk to digest all that - right? Good
thing is that city center of Belgrade is great for exploring without
using any public transportation. You could start at Knez Mihailova
street, main street with loads of shops, galleries and street artists.
Then, after crossing the street, you are on Belgrade fortress (which
consists of Kalemegdan park and old citadel). This is the oldest part of
Belgrade, built in 6th century, it’s basically living history. Here you
can see, among a lot of other things, monument called Pobednik (The
Winner), confluence of two rivers (Danube and Sava), open-air
photography exhibitions etc. Also visit Savamala, urban neighborhood
near Belgrade port with funky, cool clubs and restaurants and great,
artistic graffitis where cool kids go and Dorćol, neighborhood with the
oldest buildings and according to many people prettiest part of the
city.

4. Learn. Belgrade has a long, rich history. I
already mentioned some galleries, but there are also great museums.
National museum of Serbia, Ethnographic museum, Museum of Nikola Tesla,
Museum of Applied Arts, Tito’s museum - House of flowers and many, many
more. There is also Belgrade underground tour (where you can learn a
lot) and you can make trip to Vinča - neolithic archaeological locality,
one of the first urban settlements in Europe.

5. Cruises.
Unlike many cities, Belgrade has 2 rivers - Danube and Sava, which
makes going on a river cruise an unforgettable experience and a chance
to meet a city from a brand new perspective. It can be really romantic,
with dinner, or chill and enjoyable with a lot of sightseeing. They
usually go around Kalemegdan, Great War Island and along New Belgrade
and Zemun promenades.

6. Go to the beach. If you saw a map of Serbia, this may leave you confused - sea is nowhere to be found. But there is the Belgrade’s sea, as it’s popularly called, or Ada Ciganlija.
It has a blue flag. If swimming, tanning and drinking cocktails is
boring to you, don’t worry, here you can also bungee jump, water ski,
rock climb, roller skate, even play golf!
And - this is not exactly a
beach - but if you have some spare time don’t miss walking down the
promenades by river banks. It’s beautiful, calm and relaxing.

7. Go to Avala. Avala is the small mountain on the periphery of Belgrade. Go on Avala tower,
destroyed in 1990s by NATO bombs, built again and reopened as the
eastern Europe’s tallest tower, the view is breathtaking. There is also a
huge monument of An Unknown Soldier and a mausoleum. It’s
great for picnics and chilling. Tip: Go there on weekdays because
there’s zillion people on the weekends, especially if weather is nice.

Hi! I loved your post! I think Belgrade is really beautiful and should be more visited by the tourists and your post is a great way to help. I would also like to write about my hometown, Sombor, so I think we'll keep in touch. Ne znam zašto sam pisala na engleskom, haha, ispisala sam puno komentara u grupi pa valjda mahinalno. P.S.You forgot to mention St. Sava's church, it's magnificent!

If you visit Belgrade (or any place in Serbia), just ask if something is POSNO - that means it's plant based (except it may contain fish, believe it or not, so just make sure there's no fish in that meal and you're good) :)

I've never been to Belgrade before and it would be nice to experience all of the things that you have on this list! I think it's great to learn more about a place especially when it comes to their history! I hope to visit someday!

I just have recently been to Slovenia. It was my first time there. I really would like to visit Belgrad now. Seems like a great city and I really like the fact it has two rivers. Hope to get to explore it one day and if, your guide really helps. Thank you!

The place looks romantically chilly. that's the place I would like to take a walk to and experience cruising with someone I love. Though it may not look like a party place for me, I still think that the place is worth exploring.

Belgrade sound absolutely adventurous.Generally when I travel, I leave all my guilt and other dietary concepts behind!The biggest turn on is food for me; and your post is really helpful if ever I would plan to visit Belgrade in the near future :)

I've never been to Serbia. My uncle though goes every other year and he loves it! Belgrade definitely sounds lovely. I would love to go to Avala! I really want to see that view. And point 4 sounds really good. Always enjoy going to a museum.

Never been to Belgrade, but I will be sure to keep in mind your suggestions should I ever have the opportunity to visit. Definitely Serbia looks like a nice place to visit, and full of things to do and know

We have very interesting history and a lot of great destinations beside Belgrade, but we're still relatively undiscovered by tourists (which may be good as you can actually enjoy everything without zillion other people pushing you around and blocking your view) :)

To be honest, Serbia wasn't even in my places-to-go-to list but after reading this, I feel like I wanna go there like now! :) I love arts so museums will probably the first place I will visit in Belgrade! :)

I never thought about visiting Belgrade but you definitely piqued my curiosity. I definitely want to visit the old part of the city, that's definitely my type of parties than "regular" clubs. There is a lot of interesting museums that I'd visit, specially the Tesla one I'm very cirous about. And I would definitely visit the Avala Tower, I love historical spots. Never thought about adding Belgrade on my travel bucket-list, thanks to you it is now !

I believe I am one of those people that would always just pass by and never explore this place. I guess those reasons are valid enough, you described everything like it was too difficult to pass up as either local or tourist. I would definitely take on a cruise there but Avala really sounds interesting for a priority target.

I would most likely follow your suggestions to enjoy the food and take a walk afterwards to help digest the food. :) I would also head to the beach. I think that experiencing the food and walking around leisurely are fun ways to really get the feel of a new place you're visiting. Sitting by the seashore is also a wonderful way to relax while on vacation.

Welcome!

About me

I‘m Dunja (that is pronounced like Do-nia). I wander around Belgrade (occasionally around the world), take too many photos, laugh too loud and scribble all the time.• Welcome to BeingHalcyon, little happy place on Internet where I post my writing and photography. #GoodVibesOnly• Halcyon: (adj.) happy, carefree, idyllic. (n.) Greek goddess that became bird and calmed waves in the winter.